New exhibit shows how poor habits hurt our health

Heart disease is the number one killer of Americans, but few people ever think about how much harm they're doing to their bodies when they eat too many fries or skip exercise. Now there's a new exhibit that is giving Southern Californians a greater appreciation for their hearts.

Walking through the Brea Mall, it's hard to miss a 600-pound model of the human heart. The goal is to give shoppers a wake-up call.

"Most of us don't go walking around every day thinking about the fact that heart disease is number one killer in the United States," said Dr. Daniel Kim with St. Jude Heritage Medical Group. "Every year 600,000 people die of heart disease."

St. Jude Heritage Medical Group is partnering up with "Bodies: The Exhibition" to show people firsthand how poor habits hurt our health.

"Your body is the only thing that you have with you your entire life, and the way you treat it and the actions you take really influence what happens on the inside of your body," said Kyle Wesnieski with Premier Exhibitions.

"Instead of waiting for that illness to happen and fixing that, we want to take care of you while you're well and prevent disease from happening in the first place," said Kim.

Besides getting to see a giant-sized heart, people who head to the Brea Mall this weekend can get an up-close look at a real human heart.

"Bodies: The Exhibition" is a new permanent display opening Aug. 1 at the former Movieland Wax Museum in Buena Park. Exhibitors hope gaining intimate knowledge of how the body works will lead to making better health choices.

"You can look at anatomy textbooks all day, but until you see it up close and personal, I don't think people get that connection of what's really going on inside," said Wesnieski.